I know the show's image has been tarnished by Jimmy Savile, but if you overlook this, Top of the Pops was a well loved and well made pop show in the seventies and eighties. At its height, TOTP had 14 million viewers and while older, male viewers would moan about the long haired rock bands, they always watched for the resident female dancers, Pans People and Legs and Co.
TOTP was a chart show where groups and singers performed their hits to a studio audience. Until 1982, when a group was unavailable to perform, the dancers would perform a routine to their music. Also the show was hosted for its first 27 years by BBC DJs, which helped popularise their radio shows. In the eighties the dancers and orchestra were phased out and the show developed more of a party atmosphere and also pop videos and a review of the American charts were introduced.
I would give TOTP ten stars, but for the way the BBC messed it around in the nineties. Insisting acts sang live, rather than miming, was a disaster as rave acts in particular sounded dreadful live and replacing Radio 1 DJs with unknowns was a bad move. Then the BBC steadily lost faith with the show and moved it to BBC Two, where it endured a slow death.
However, for the first 25 years, TOTP was an excellent show and well loved by viewers and musicians alike. Re runs on BBC Four are always worth watching.
TOTP was a chart show where groups and singers performed their hits to a studio audience. Until 1982, when a group was unavailable to perform, the dancers would perform a routine to their music. Also the show was hosted for its first 27 years by BBC DJs, which helped popularise their radio shows. In the eighties the dancers and orchestra were phased out and the show developed more of a party atmosphere and also pop videos and a review of the American charts were introduced.
I would give TOTP ten stars, but for the way the BBC messed it around in the nineties. Insisting acts sang live, rather than miming, was a disaster as rave acts in particular sounded dreadful live and replacing Radio 1 DJs with unknowns was a bad move. Then the BBC steadily lost faith with the show and moved it to BBC Two, where it endured a slow death.
However, for the first 25 years, TOTP was an excellent show and well loved by viewers and musicians alike. Re runs on BBC Four are always worth watching.